Thursday, 31 January 2013

Time is running short - call national strike action!

UNLESS WE TAKE NATIONAL STRIKE ACTION SOON, Gove will have won his
‘war’ on teachers without teaching unions even having put up a serious
fight. Teachers face losing thousands of pounds from our pay, and
from our career-average pensions, as cash-strapped schools refuse
teachers pay-rises. Demoralisation will get even worse as managers
pick-and-choose who gets what, and impose even harsher demands and
targets on us.
Keep up the pressure on the Executive
Time is running dangerously short to force Gove back. That’s why the NUT
National Executive’s decision NOT to call a first day of national
strike action on 13 March will have been a disappointment to many
teachers. But the narrow margin of the vote – with 20 votes in favour
and just 22 against – shows that the pressure from classroom teachers IS
having an effect. It’s now vital that, in every region of the country,
NUT members apply even more pressure on their Executive members to
vote for the urgent campaign of strike action that we need. That same
pressure also needs to be applied inside the NASUWT too.

“The time to sit back has to end”
The official NUT press release following the National Executive meeting
rightly stated that “Michael Gove must understand that unless this
onslaught against teachers’ pay, pensions and working conditions stops
then strike action is inevitable. Teachers do not take strike action
lightly but when the profession is being torn apart by a Government
whose reforms have little to do with standards, or evidence, then the
time to sit back has to end”. That’s true but, for now, teachers are
still being told to sit back!”. The February NUT Executive MUST call
action!
National action needs to to start THIS term
A programme of national action really needs to start before Easter.
Action at the end of the summer term alone will surely be too late
to force Gove into retreating from his damaging threats, or, at the very
least, into making some concessions to teaching unions. By then, the
legislation will have already been agreed by Parliament. Governing
Bodies will already be meeting to discuss how to implement the plans for
September. By then, some schools will be deciding which teachers will
receive a 1% annual increase, and who will receive nothing at all.
Some will start to make pay decisions based on THIS year’s appraisal
targets – blocking pay progression for teachers from September 2013.
If we’re not careful, teachers will have concluded that the battle’s
over before it’s really started !

Follow action in March with further strikes
Teachers are practical people. It will be tough to lose pay on strike
days but, if we can force Gove back, we’ll save so much more! But, a
one-day ‘protest’ strike won’t be enough; we need an ongoing programme
of action. At school meetings, Reps’ Briefings, and NUT Conference,
teachers will want to debate what, when and ‘how often?’ At the
300-strong London NUT Briefing, there was a lot of applause given to
reps who proposed escalating from an initial one-day action to a further
48-hour strike next term. Whatever is agreed, teachers need to start
preparing now by putting away some cash to pay for the strikes to come
and building hardship funds to help those who can’t do so.

Teachers will support action - if unions give a lead
The London NUT Briefing voted unanimously for national strike action.
Last year’s legal ballot - and subsequent internal surveys - have also
backed national action. Of course, the mood isn’t even across all
schools and all regions; that’s inevitable. But we have no shortage of
arguments to give to both teachers and parents to explain why Gove, in
general, and PRP, in particular, has to be opposed. It’s high time
unions started getting those arguments out to their members and building
for action!
How long can we wait for the NASUWT?
By that narrow majority, the NUT Executive voted to delay calling action
and to wait to see if further discussions with the NASUWT could produce
a joint plan of action. But how much longer can the NUT wait? And are
the NASUWT prepared to sanction more than just a one-day protest? If the
NASUWT won’t act quickly enough, then the NUT will have to act without
them to start with - just as happened in June 2011 over pensions. If
the NUT calls action on March 20, then it’s very likely that, as in
2011, it can co-ordinate with PCS members taking national action too.NUT Executive meets again on February 28
Time is now dangerously short, but pressure from below has been having
an effect. Further pressure can make sure that the next NUT National
Executive meeting on February 28 finally calls national action. The
future of education, and of union organisation, is at stake. Gove is
out to wreck education and rip apart our national pay and conditions.
But the stakes are too high to get downhearted by the continued delays.
NUT members, reps and Local Associations must demand that a serious
programme of action is called before it is too late.

Martin Powell-Davies

* Brought up as a socialist by parents who hungered for what is right * One adopted grandfather left me a double-barrelled name, the other his name on a 1926 General Strike black-list * Joined the Labour Party as a teenager, left it when it abandoned the values and traditions of so many who built it in the past * Given a comprehensive education at St.Andrew's, Leatherhead * First-class degree from King's College, Cambridge, for those who like that kind of thing * Secondary science teacher in London 1986-2015 * Lewisham NUT Secretary 1993-2015, organiser of many campaigns to defend teachers and education * Living in Sydenham since 1997, father of four who were all so well-supported by Sedgehill School * Member of the NUT National Executive 2010-15 * NUT London Regional Secretary 2016 - * Proud to have been name-checked by Gove for saying that his 'reforms' could make teaching unbearable * Member of the CWI, following its global struggles via http://www.socialistworld.net * Candidate for TUSC in Lewisham West & Penge, 2015 * Member of Penge CC, often a 'Middle Aged Man In Lycra' on Sundays